Anti-Vick voices grow, as petition to ban Jets QB gains footing

The decision by the New York Jets to sign Michael Vick is being met with resistance, as Vick's animal cruelty past is coming back to the surface.

Michael Vick is not a popular man, and the New York Jets are having to come to terms with this.

At issue is Vick's unfathomable cruelty at a dog fighting kennel that he owned and operated. The depravity committed on the pit bulls that were deemed losers by Vick and his associates was extreme, and featured electrocutions, hangings, drownings, shootings, rapes, and fatal beatings inflicted on scores of dogs.

The counterargument being crafted in support of Vick, a recent example seen here by Bleacher Report, is that the past is the past and that Michael Vick paid his dues to society.

However, momentum is building among populations concerned that Michael Vick's past is just too extreme and that he has not fully atoned for his horrible actions.

A petition circulated by Change.org to ban Michael Vick from the SUNY Cortland campus — where the New York Jets hold their training camp — has crossed 14,000 signatures. Another group, Boycott Nike For Signing Michael Vick, has over 20,000 followers on Facebook. Additionally, the Kick Out Vick Campaign just launched its Facebook page and has been encouraging people to post pictures of their dogs; to encourage Jets fans to abandon the team; and to generally pressure the Jets and the NFL to remove the troubled quarterback from the league.

In a Forbes photo gallery feature, Vick was considered among the most disliked players in the National Football League, with 60 percent saying they did not like the quarterback.

The question remains, this early in April, if the pressure being placed on Michael Vick can be sustained and if the National Football League, eager to keep its female fans, will make any adjustments.